De-stress is highly called for come holiday season. Below are 5 good mental habits to keep in mind for a less stressful holiday. Plus a bonus habit to make “dummy proof” white rice or your favorite rice for your holiday (and everyday cooking) like my mom served every weeknight dinner meal when I was growing up. Rice cooking steps below.🍛
De-stress is a good wellness move year-round and especially during holidays when stress, irritations, and anxiety can creep in around our work, travel, family, and loss situations. Your mind-body is put to the test. And that can send us to needing some body balance therapy and mood restoration.
Last-minute changes are never fun. And not to mention, the uncertain feelings of setting yourself up for a new year can bring nervous sensations. You can have looming internal questions like: will it be a good new year?
The answer can always be yes! if we choose. Because what’s happening to us is all relative to our lives. And there’s always something good that comes out if we fix our eyes on our perspectives.
Instead of magnifying and putting energy into what didn’t go right and the hardships we endured, focus on what did go right. And that will change your outlook in your life.
Moments become blurs in your life as you distance yourself over time from specific situations.
Through those times, you grow as a person. And when you’ve had enough time to process, you become stronger and wiser if you focus on the better perspectives and attitudes.
And over time, you can realize avoiding stress isn’t a measure of your life success… it’s how you process your stressful situations and what you learn about yourself in the process. Staying cool, calm, and collected always pays off for your mind-body balance.
Recently in my processes, I was hit with a travel planning situation to face where I had to work with loved ones who did the planning. And then a day later, faced a work situation that needed repair. There, I was put in a position to fix the issues between an employee and boss.
I had to create some stress to get to the bottom of what the messy middle was. I also had to bring up heavy conversations and discuss touchy areas, so I could help temporarily restore what was broken.
Testing the waters, that delivered better results the next day than if I hadn’t stirred up the conversations. Had I decided to sugar coat or dance around topics, both would have led to long and drawn out unease. Being direct, I knew the outcome I needed for everyone’s happy sake.
I thought with the end in mind. I wanted both situations to end well in happy endings.
Fortunately, both stressful situations were fixed by end of week. But, I needed de-stress therapy from the heavy moments.
And I realized those stressful moments were setups for what my mind-body would have to face for another stressful situation closer to the holidays.
So, fresh on my mind, these are some helpful tips you can also use to de-stress in your holiday situations.
How to De-Stress Around Holidays
1.Look for loving happy endings, first.
Consider the alternatives. Usually there is miscommunication in play whenever there are sour grape situations with people involved. And instead of trying to attack through ego walls, it’s better to put the loving hat on. Putting fleshly feelings aside, we think of what will be best for the situation. And sometimes that can be as simple as we just agree to disagree (and leave in peace) or figure out how to fix what’s broken. And then with those attitudes, inadvertently the language of what “we” can do slips out instead of just “me” and my agenda that never wins.
2.Be fearless.
Fear is the opposite of love. Proceed with your plan if you know what to do. Your gut instinct is usually always right for higher, and more loving ways. But if you react in doubt and fear, then you create more negative energy for yourself that adds more stress. When you trust the best outcomes, then you can eliminate fear. The worst that can happen is you’re no longer in those stressful situations because of a loss. And when you have loss, that’s the opportunity for growth and a new door.
3.Look for how to correct a wrong way quickly.
Fix quickly and then get past quicker. Resentment only results in your unhappiness. You don’t want to have sour feelings lingering and then that turns into a stressful season. In both my situations I mentioned, they could have lasted for a month longer and hung around like gray clouds. But with swift and fearless action, all that was mitigated instead of trying to sugar coat or dance around topics that could’ve been easily misunderstood. You can’t always predict what others will do, but you can predict your actions so you can more quickly de-stress.
4.Get rid of baggage and replace with happy ways.
Assume no trauma. Work out your frustrations same day as you experience them. If it’s sadness, then cry. And if it’s anger, then work off your anger at the gym or on your yoga mat.
But don’t act like nothing is wrong. And don’t assume unhappy traditions such as a guilty mourning ritual every time you see a sign that reminds you of a sad situation. Because those are self-imposed obligations to hold onto stress and what doesn’t have to be. It’s an unnecessary burden and for those around you who have to dance around the day or situation. Life is too short to hold onto past sad memories, and not create new happy ones instead. My book Empowered Happiness is all about that.
5.De-stress routine.
To de-stress, get out of the daily routine. Purposefully decide not to engage with those people in your daily stressful situations for a few days so you can gain new perspectives. Start your detox as you’re going through.
In my case, I didn’t lose additional sleep. I planned self-care. And I took healing steamy showers, spritzed lovely bergamot scents, and enjoyed calming tea. I didn’t wait until the dust settled. There’s no need to withhold daily joy from your life.
The goal doesn’t have to be to get through the sufferings, avoid the stress, or only seek happy moments. When you learn how to be content, that’s when life gets easier.
And that can help you get back to present moment awareness faster where the calm is.
In my situations, I sang along with calming music that’s therapy to the soul. And to get out of routine, I listened to a little Aretha Franklin that brought me to a mood that helped bring me back to present moment awareness. I also did 4-7-8 breathing: inhaling in the gratitude and exhaling stressful negative energy.
So even when I felt the weight of my situations, I made sure to re-center myself with yoga and think about what I would be looking forward to later in the week and at nights. I had a focused reminder of what I’m grateful for. We all have something to be appreciative of in any of our situations.
And basically I did all the activities that bring my mindfulness back (that destroys the unhealthy ego from growing). Mindfulness revived me. It’s one of the secrets to mind-body balance.
And I believe we all have this in us so we can de-stress our negative energy away and turn into healthy, growth, productivity, joy, and creativity that lasts through the holidays and into the new year.
Have a Merry Christmas! 🎄
My mom never wrote down any recipes or cooking methods, but she also never worked on a computer 🖥️.
She passed down her white rice method in my memory and I added a few healthy ingredient steps. Rice makes a good side, is a good filler, and has many healthy nutrients (vit-mins).
The Perfect Mom Fluffy Rice Method
Equipment
- microwave/oven-safe soup size mug
- cooking pot with lid larger than mug
Ingredients
- white rice or rice of choice (brown or wild rice for whole grain healthy)
- water
- olive oil, drizzle (healthy fat)
Instructions
- Add tap water to the pot that goes up half way up the outside of the mug.
- After rinsing rice, add rice to the mug. Add up to 2/3 to the top of the mug (leaving 1/3 of the mug unfilled).
- Then, add filtered water to the rice-mug leaving about 1/2" from the brim top so it doesn't boil over.
- Cook on medium (or medium-low) heat with covered lid for about 30 minutes or until rice is soft, almost cooked done to liking, and water is almost absorbed. Add a little filtered water as needed to the rice to finish off cooking (usually a few additional minutes) and an olive oil drizzle if desired for perfectly moist rice.
